Sunday July 6, 2008: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30

Our second reading today is from one of the most important chapters of the New Testament. For five Sundays in a row, we will be hearing from Romans Chapter 8. In this chapter of the bible, St. Paul gives us a wonderful teaching concerning life in the Spirit. St. Paul contrasts this life in the Spirit with life in the flesh. Both lives are heading in different directions and there is no meeting point between them. Life in the flesh leads to death and eternal damnation and life in the Spirit leads to everlasting life with Jesus Christ in the kingdom of God.

To live in the flesh is to continue to live a life of the past, a life dominated by sinfulness. For St. Paul, a life in the flesh is not just sexual sins but it is all that is sinful in the human nature. This life is absorbed by self-centeredness and selfishness and it is characterized by a lack of trust in God. It is a pursuit of the momentary and temporary pleasures of this world and a rejection of God. It is a life without Jesus Christ in the center. A life we lived before our encounter with Jesus Christ.

Earlier on in Chapter 7 of Romans, St. Paul gave a teaching on the Law, the Mosaic Law. He says that Christians are freed from the law. “But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.” At the beginning of the eight chapter of Romans, he is also critical of the law: “For what the law, weakened by the flesh, was powerless to do, this God has done: …” Why will St. Paul condemn the law? Isn’t the law something that is good? Didn’t Jesus Christ say that he has not come to condemn the law but to fulfill it? Yes, the law is good. However, with the coming of Christ, the purpose of the law has been fulfilled. Jesus Christ is now our new law. What the law could not do, Jesus Christ can now do. The law could not empower us to live as the people God has called us to be. The law only gave us do’s and don’ts without any empowerment to live our full potentials as God’s people. With the coming of Jesus Christ who took on our human nature and lived like every one of us except sin, he has shown us an example of perfect obedience and give us his spirit to be able to live like him.

The empowerment that comes to us through Jesus Christ enables us not live a life in the flesh but to live our full potential as people of the Spirit. We are freed from the law in order not to return to a life of the flesh but we are freed from the law in order to live a life of the spirit. In Galatians 5: 13 – 26, St. Paul makes this point clearer. He tells us that our freedom should not be used as an opportunity for the flesh, but we should rather use it to serve one another in love. St. Paul goes on to list the works of the flesh and these works are opposed to the Spirit: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies and the like.” To use our new found freedom in Jesus Christ to do these works of the flesh is to misuse our wonderful privilege and opportunity. The reward for doing these works is death and St. Paul warns us that if we do them, we “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” When we chose to do the works of the flesh, we are choosing to remain in slavery. What these things do is to hold us captive. Think about how you are a prisoner to jealousy or alcohol? Think about how these things rule your life?
St. Paul challenges us Christians to live spiritual lives. The fruits of living in the spirit are: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” These things are not controlled by the law but they fruits of our complete and total dedication of our lives to Jesus. To live in the Spirit is to live every moment of our lives trusting in Jesus and his unconditional love for us. It is living for and only for God. When we live in the spirit, we make Jesus Christ the number one priority of our lives. It is only when we live in the Spirit that we can live our full potentials.

It is very unfortunate that many Christians today do not live their full Christian potentials. It isn’t enough to come to Church on Sunday and spend an hour in worship. We must develop a solid prayer life every day of our lives and invite the Holy Spirit to take total and absolute possession of our lives. If we do not live our full Christian potentials, we cannot enjoy the fruits of the Spirit and thereby cannot enjoy the kind of freedom that Jesus Christ has paid a great price for us. I want to invite you this week to dedicate your lives to the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of each day this week, the very first thing in the morning before you even say “Hello!” to your spouse, I want you to pray, “Come Holy Spirit and help me today.” Try to be aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life throughout the day and I can guarantee you that you will see changes in your life.

Matthew 21: 1-11; Matthew 26: 14-27:66 or 27: 11-54 (Sunday, March 16, 2008 Passion Sunday)

Today marks the beginning of Holy Week, a very special time in the liturgical calendar. This is a holy week because it is the week of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the week in which we all were liberated from slavery and guaranteed a place in the family of Jesus. This week begins with Jesus Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The people are greeting with “hosannas” which classically means “Save Now.” These are a people that are desperately in need of liberation. Their cry echoes their desperation to be saved. Some of them were very familiar with the history of Jesus. They have heard how this Jesus healed the blind, how he even brought the dead back to life. How he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead and declared himself as “the resurrection and the life.” They were over five million people in town that day to celebrate the Passover and the news had spread widely about this Jesus Christ who even claims that he is the “I Am.” The expectations were high. Not every one was crying “Hosanna” for spiritual reasons. For some, it was a socio-political liberation. Many had tried without success to overthrow the Romans and perhaps this miracle worker called Jesus would do it. Hasn’t that been what all of his message is about? Shortly after his baptism, he declared his mission as that of setting the captives free and declaring the Lord’s year of glory. It was like the people were crying, “we want the year of God’s favor now.”

Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was suppose to reflect that of a military warrior and a conqueror, yet, Jesus’ entry was peaceful and calm. How disappointed the people were. What has happened to all the hype? The people thought, he is just like one of the previous revolutionaries who did not succeed. They were afraid that this incident would even cause them more problems in the future. Gradually many are beginning to back off. They do not want to identify with failure. They do not want to be accused with Jesus. They have nothing to do with this man. Even the disciples are no longer sure if they made the right decision to follow this man. Jesus knew this and he challenged the disciples to it. Peter swore that he would never leave Jesus. Oh, I am going to always be with you; wherever you go I will go. Even if it means dying, I will die with you. Yes, he and the other apostles could not watch with him even for an hour. The moment Jesus leaves to pray, instead of spending time in prayer supporting him and themselves, they said to themselves “what a heck with this sleepless nights.” They started sleeping. Even when Jesus returns to them the first time and spoke with them, they went back to sleep. Not too long, the news is out that Judas one of his closest allies has sold Jesus. It wasn’t too long after this, Peter, the Prince of Apostles denied Jesus three times.

When we look at this story, we may say, how could they have done this? They lived with him, travelled with him, believed him, and witnessed all the miracles he performed. How is it that they did not get it? The important question today however is for us. How is it that we don’t get it most times? How many times have we sold or denied Jesus Christ? For how much are we selling Jesus Christ? How much do you sell him when you chose a ball game over a Eucharistic celebration? How much do you sell him when you chose watching the television over prayer? How much do you sell him when you chose to dine sumptuously rather than help the poor or give to the church?

We sometimes find ourselves denying Jesus everyday. When you cannot say grace before meal at a restaurant before eating your meal because you feel you will look weird or may be persecuted by your friends, you are denying Jesus. You deny Jesus when you abandon him when times are hard. When the people in the gospel of today figured out that they will not get the socio-political liberation they were expecting, they started flickering away. We deny Jesus when we run away from him because we feel our prayers are not answered. We follow him because of the consolations we can get from him. We have no business with the way of the cross, the way of sorrow – our concern is only with the resurrection, the way of glorification. We deny Jesus when we come to him when we are in need and when our problem is solved, we deny him. I go to the hospitals some time and anoint people who think they may be dying. Sometimes these people have never been in church for 20 years. Either their families or they themselves remember that that Catholic Church has that sacrament that will give you a First Class ticket to heaven, they want to take it and go to heaven the easy way. Some times these people get well and they never return to Church. Jesus Christ does not want fair-weather disciples or friends. He wants friends that will stand with him on the way to the cross, at the foot of the cross and at the resurrection. The Blessed Virgin Mary was such a disciple. She accompanied him all through the way. The disciples who stood with him all through the way, rejoiced on Easter Sunday.
This Holy Week is an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves as his disciples that will always stand by him all the time. We want to say, Jesus we are no longer weather friends. We are friends always. We will always be with you. We will always love you. Thank you Jesus for being our friend. Thank you Jesus for liberating us. Thank you Jesus for being our savior.